DOJ launches criminal probe of E. Jean Carroll lawsuits against Trump

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into people involved in the civil lawsuits brought against President Donald Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll, who alleges that the real estate mogul sexually abused her in a Manhattan department store 30 years ago, a source familiar with the probe told USA TODAY.

The source confirmed the investigation's existence to USA TODAY on May 28, saying the primary subject of the investigation is a nonprofit organization affiliated with billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman, who helped indirectly finance Carroll’s legal costs and expenses in her long-running lawsuits against Trump.

A federal civil jury ruled in January 2024 that Trump must pay the prominent advice columnist $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019, when he denied her allegations of sexual assault and said "people should pay dearly for such false accusations." Another jury found that Trump owed Carroll at least $5 million.

The DOJ investigation comes as Trump is running out of options to avoid paying as much as $88 million in damages, plus interest. The Supreme Court is currently considering whether to take up at least one of Trump's appeals.

Multiple media that the DOJ probe targets Carroll herself, for allegedly making false statements under oath during testimony connected to the two civil lawsuits she won against Trump. During civil trials, the former Elle magazine columnist said she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, but her lawyers later acknowledged that Hoffman had paid some ​of her legal bills.

CNN first reported the existence of the probe, with later reporting by the New York Times, Reuters, ABC News and other outlets.

Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, provided funding through his Chicago-based nonprofit, American Future Republic, according to court documents filed in the case in 2023. He was listed as president, chair and director in American Future Republic's latest tax filings for 2024.

The source described the investigation, based out of the Justice Department’s U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, as very fluid and ongoing, and said that while it does not currently focus on Carroll, it could ultimately lead to her. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity to USA TODAY because they were not authorized to publicly comment on an active DOJ investigation.

The Justice Department said in a statement to USA TODAY that it does not comment on ongoing investigations.

No criminal charges have been filed, and the existence of an investigation does not necessarily mean prosecutors will ultimately bring a case.

he law firm of Carroll’s lawyer in those cases, Roberta Kaplan, told USA TODAY in a statement that Kaplan “cannot comment at this time beyond what is already in the public record.”

But the firm said that Trump has already raised the issue of making false statements in court and lost.

In a Dec. 30, 2024 decision affirming a $5 million unanimous jury verdict against Trump, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected Trump’s argument that his legal team had found proof that Carroll had knowingly lied about the funding from Hoffman’s group during her deposition.

Carroll did say at one point that she was not aware of the funding, but the court found that she “plausibly represented that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained in September 2020 when this question was first posed to her in 2022, and the additional discovery did not indicate otherwise.”

In its ruling, the court found that, “There was no evidence to suggest that Ms. Carroll was personally involved in securing the funding, interacted with the funder, received an invoice showing the arrangement before or after her counsel received the outside funding, or had discussed the arrangement with anyone between learning of it in September 2020 and being deposed in October 2022."

Trump DOJ has targeted Trump critics

Whoever is ultimately targeted, the investigation is the latest example of the Trump administration using federal law enforcement powers to target people who have accused the president of wrongdoing.

In second term, a DOJ going after Trump accusers

Since returning to office, Trump’s Justice Department has launched inquiries involving several Trump critics, in many cases after Trump publicly called for charges to be brought against them.

Those include securing two indictments against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly threatening Trump through placing seashells on a beach, and against New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump in a civil fraud case that threatened to cost the president hundreds of millions of dollars.

Comey was first indicted last September by a federal grand jury in Virginia on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstructing a congressional proceeding in connection with his testimony before a Senate committee in September 2020.

A judge dismissed that indictment, saying Trump had unlawfully appointed the lead prosecutor, and in April, DOJ won a second indictment against Comey, claiming that he arranged the shells in a manner that constituted a threat to the president.

Carroll is one of at least 27 women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct. Although he was caught on tape boasting about kissing women without their permission and grabbing them by their genitals, he has consistently denied all of his accusers' allegations.